The Mets were decidedly average up until two weeks before the break. Hovering around or just below .500 for most of the first three months of the season, there was little there to give one enough of an idea that we had a playoff bound club on our hands.

Just as the first half was coming to a close, the Mets got on a roll. Winning 11 of their last 13 games, and putting themselves within a half game of first place in the NL East. They saw the emergence of Mike Pelfrey becoming the pitcher they had always envisioned him to be, going 6-0 with a 2.07 ERA since the start of June.

They saw their offense meet the expectations placed upon it, and the rebirth of Carlos Delgado who had all but become a shell of his former self. Delgado is batting .367, with 12 runs scored, six doubles, three home runs, seven RBIs in 45 at-bats since July 1st

They received the much needed help from players filling in for the numerous injuries sustained by their starters. Lacking Ryan Church, Moises Alou, and Luis Castillo for extended periods, their absence was adequately filled by the likes of Damion Easley, Argenis Reyes, Endy Chavez, and a Fernando Tatis who seemingly rose from the dead.

The bullpen has been outstanding as well as the starting pitching, setting records for the lack of runs and hits allowed throughout the streak. The Mets became the first team in modern baseball history (since 1900) to hold their opponent to three hits in five consecutive games. The bullpen hasn’t allowed a run in the last 19.1 innings of work and are 3-0 during that stretch.

Who are the real Mets? Are they the ones who floundered around for the first four months, inconsistent and unable to find their much needed groove or are they the Mets of the last two weeks, loose, relaxed and dominating their opponents at seemingly effortless clip.

The Mets haven’t had a groove like this since 2006, the second half will prove if they have the magic of that year in them, or if the last two weeks were simply an abberation.

Gary Grund contributed to this blog post.

Ryan Church and Luis Castillo are both back and in tonight’s lineup. Church has felt increasingly better the last few days after suffering his second concussion in three months. Castillo’s back only after a day on the pine after suffering a strained hip.

In other news, Moises Alou is scheduled to come off the DL Thursday when he is eligible.

Dear Jose Reyes,

On May 7^th I sat right here and wrote a letter to your teammate Carlos Beltran, and I asked him to step it up. Since May 7^th, Carlos is batting .313 with 2 HRs and 16 RBIs in 67 ABs (this is not including yesterday’s game). Prior to the letter, Carlos was batting .219 with 2 HRs and 13 RBIs in 105 ABs. Seeing the marked improvement of Mr. Beltran following my letter, I decided it was my duty as a fan to write another letter to another struggling Met.

I’m not sure how else to put it, but you just seem like you’re on Pluto lately. I’m not talking about Mars, or Jupiter – I’m saying you are in far off outer space. Yeah, and Pluto’s not even a planet anymore. How does that make you feel?

Anyways. Ever since around the All-Star break last season you have been struggling. Through June last year you were batting an impressive .317, setting the pace for a hot Mets team that looked as if it had the NL East in its back pocket. But you tailed off and so did the team’s record. Your September last season was just abysmal, you batted .207 amid a legendary collapse – in case you need reminding. But, the team’s offense didn’t struggle. In September, the Mets offense scored 157 runs, their 2nd highest monthly total last year. But what caused your struggles Jose? You didn’t play particularly well in the month of August last year either. Let’s see what happened before August last year that might have had an influence on you…

Aha! We traded for Luis Castillo on July 30th, is that why you’ve been so bad? He is probably a bad influence, he is lazy and doesn’t run for ground balls hard nor does he run out hits that hard. Castillo even said at the beginning of this year, that he is going to need regular days off. That’s not the right attitude. But is he really rubbing off on you that much? Please. Granted he’s not a good influence but honestly blaming it on him would be a pretty lame excuse for your struggles.

I’m not sure anybody but you knows why you’re on Pluto.

You seem lackadaisical in the field. You were picked off twice in this series against Colorado, one of the times was off 2^nd base. Getting picked off 2^nd, not to mention by a lefty, is embarrassing. You really have to be in a daze.

Also, what’s up with that error you made yesterday? Even through your rough patches, your fielding has never stuttered. You’ve always been a natural out there with a cannon. But, you go out there and botch that double-play ball yesterday, which led to a HR and a Rockies lead. Everybody makes errors, but that was a bad one where it seemed like you just weren’t paying attention and you weren’t focused on the ball.

Jose, I’m not sure what’s exactly wrong but I hope you find your swagger soon. You need to realize how much fun you should be having and how good you can and should be. When we see you hit the ball and run, even people who don’t know baseball can look at you and say, “Damn, that kid’s a stud.” But somebody who hits .270 without drawing walks, makes stupid plays and dazes off is by no means a stud.

I just hope you smell the fresh air and awake from this trance to be the stud that sent us mashing through the NL East to begin last year.

Sincerely,

Andrew Beaton

Luis Castillo commented last night regarding his need for regular days off.

“When I play three or four games in a row, maybe I can get a day off. I’m going to talk to Willie about it.”

Willie Randolph moved Castillo to the eighth position in the lineup on Tuesday night, replacing him with Ryan Church in the 2 slot, and will do so again tonight. Castillo hadn’t batted eighth since 2005.

Castillo was 0 for 2 and walked twice on Tuesday and now is batting .194 in 31 at-bats.

Look, I figured Castillo would need someone to give him a rest every now and then but every three or four games seems awfully excessive. When is the last time you had a guy outright ask to be platooned?

The Mets have signed this guy to a four year deal and unfortunately to protect that investment they will have to be cautious about him. I just find it incredibly weak that Luis is bellyaching this early in the year. I can only imagine how he is going to feel come September.

Could you imagine if one of us told our boss we need every three days off, after they just committed a nice four year contract to us?

The Mets beat the Washington Nationals 6-0 tonight.

• Mike Pelfrey was brilliant, allowing no runs and only five hits and two walks over seven innings. He struck out two and 65 of his 100 pitches were strikes.
• Jose Reyes began the game with a spark, hitting for a single, double, triple in that order in his first three at-bats.  He failed to hit for the cycle, although he singled again in his fourth at-bat.
• David Wright was 3-4 with a 2 2Bs and a 2-run HR to start the game. He scored two runs and had five RBIs, and now has 15 on the season.
• Carlos Beltran was 1-4 with an RBI.
• Ryan Church batted 2nd, behind Jose Reyes while Luis Castillo batted 8th. 
• Duaner Sanchez pitched the ninth for the Mets, striking out one and allowing one hit.

Game ball definitely goes to Mike Pelfrey who had a fabulous outing.  He was in control the whole time and never got out of control.  He was phenomenal.

Reyes had a fantastic game, but his hammy doesn’t seem 100% yet.  If he was hustling the whole way, that 3B could’ve been an inside the park HR, and he was caught stealing in the first inning.  Take your time Jose it’s a long season.  It was also nice hearing fans chant the ‘Jose-Jose-Jose-Jose’ rather than it being blasted over the loud speakers.

Nice to see Wright getting back into the groove of things, a HR and a 2B, plus another hard hit ball to his former high school team-mate Ryan Zimmerman.

Aaron Heilman still doesn’t look like himself, but I still trust him with the ball in his hands…call me crazy. He got out of the 8th unscathed, but it was scary.

Awesome to see Duaner back in a real game again, he can be such a lift to this team.  Plus his goggles are pretty boss.  Also amazing to see how emotional he was after the game in the post-game interview, behind those goggles I swear I saw tears.

Finally, I told all my friends today it was a guaranteed win because I wore my Mets tube socks today.  Make fun of tube socks all you want, but they get it done for our Mets.  Everybody then asks, why I don’t wear them everyday and you simply have to understand that you cannot abuse the power of the Mets tube socks.  Might’ve been a bit early too early to bring them out, but this was a nice win and I don’t regret it.

By the way, Luis Castillo should bat ninth.